Two ekphrastic triolets

With those first six notes it finds its voice

and seeps its way into my soul.

As clear as crystal, delicate as lace,

in those first six notes it finds its voice.

She’d left a letter making this her choice--

so we played it at my mother’s funeral.

In those first six notes it finds its voice

and seeps its way into my soul.

A winter’s journey: hardship, sorrow, loss

and loneliness, cold sharp as a pin.

Some joys and pleasures, but they quickly pass

and we return to hardship, sorrow, loss.

This is the bleakness that the words express.

Nevertheless, the music draws me in,

to all the trials: hardship, sorrow, loss

and loneliness, cold sharp as a pin.